Daily Archives: March 2, 2017

A 17-year-old boy is dead after a Snapchat stunt went horribly wrong at a Singapore mall last week.

Skateboarder Jonathan Chow often filmed little stunts for social media, so when he planned to hop the railing onto the outer ledge of an upper floor walkway at the Orchard Central mall, he and his friend Ruth thought this was no different.

“We both thought the ledge was made of concrete, but when he jumped, he fell straight through. I knew it was dangerous, but before I could stop him, he already jumped over.”

Mall security cameras captured the final moments before Jonathan made his tragic jump.

Jonathan’s father Matthew Chowblames the mall for not having a warning sign that the structure outside the railing should not be walked on.

The Far East Organization, which owns the mall, issued a statement, saying:

“The glass railing along the link bridge is 1.2 meters high and acts as a safety barrier for members of the public. It also prohibits access to the plasterboard box-up, which is an interior architectural treatment.

Together with our building consultants, we are currently reviewing if any other measures, in addition to the glass barrier, are required. In the interim, our security officers will be patrolling the various link bridges at more frequent intervals.”

Should the mall do more? Or should the railing itself be sufficient warning?

We just hope other social media stunt performers remember this the next time and think before they leap.

Following an online mini-furor Thursday, the CEO and founder of South by Southwest has responded to criticism that the festival was reserving the right to notify immigration authorities of bands that do not abide by the fest’s contract.

On Thursday, Felix Walworth, who fronts the New York City indie-rock group Told Slant, tweeted a screenshot of a portion of the performance agreement pertaining to immigration and said the band was canceling its performance.

“I’m not interested in aligning myself with an institution that interacts with immigration authorities as a means of controlling where art is shared and performed, and who makes money off of it,” Walworth wrote. “This festival uses an imperialist model and prioritizes centralizing and packaging culture over communities and people’s safety. It’s no secret that SXSW has played a huge role in the process of Austin’s rapid gentrification. The whole festival exists to the detriment of working class people and people of color in Austin. That they’re willing to threaten deportation is enough evidence for me that they don’t care about anyone including the artists that lend them their legitimacy.”

Walworth did not immediately reply to a request for further comment about the issue.

In a statement, SXSW CEO and co-founder Roland Swenson refuted the accusations, citing a “misunderstanding of our policies regarding international artists.”

“Language governing SXSW’s ability to protect a showcase has been in the artist performance agreement for many years,” Swenson said. “It is, and always was intended to be, a safeguard to provide SXSW with a means to respond to an act that does something truly egregious, such as disobeying our rules about pyrotechnics on stage, starting a brawl in a club, or causing serious safety issues.” The language has been place for five years, Swenson told The Austin Chronicle.

Swenson voiced opposition to President Trump’s controversial travel ban in his statement. The fest had already booked a showcase called Contrabanned: #MusicUnites, according to Stereogum, that will highlight bands affected by the travel ban, and Swenson said it wanted to take things even father. “[South by Southwest] is working hard to build a coalition of attorneys to assist artists with issues at U.S. ports of entry during the event,” he said. “We have artists from 62 countries from around the world performing and have always supported our international music community. We have never reported international showcasing artists to immigration authorities.”

He also acknowledged the fire-and-brimstone language of the performance agreement. “We understand that given the current political climate surrounding immigration, the language that was published seems strong,” he wrote. “Violating U.S. immigration law has always carried potentially severe consequences, and we would be remiss not to warn our participating acts of the likely repercussions.”

Moreover, he wrote, “We hope never to be put in the position to act on this.”

South by Southwest CEO and Founder Roland Swenson’s Full Statement

SXSW has been vocal in its opposition to President Trump’s Travel Ban and is working hard to build a coalition of attorneys to assist artists with issues at U.S. ports of entry during the event. We have artists from 62 countries from around the world performing and have always supported our international music community. We have never reported international showcasing artists to immigration authorities.

We were sorry to learn that one of our invited performers chose to cancel his performance at this year’s SXSW Music Festival due to a misunderstanding of our policies regarding international artists.

We understand that given the current political climate surrounding immigration, the language that was published seems strong. Violating U.S. immigration law has always carried potentially severe consequences, and we would be remiss not to warn our participating acts of the likely repercussions.

Language governing SXSW’s ability to protect a showcase has been in the artist Performance Agreement for many years. It is, and always was intended to be, a safeguard to provide SXSW with a means to respond to an act that does something truly egregious, such as disobeying our rules about pyrotechnics on stage, starting a brawl in a club, or causing serious safety issues.

The SXSW Performance Agreement states:

If SXSW determines, in its sole discretion, that Artist or its representatives have acted in ways that adversely affect the viability of Artist’s official SXSW showcase, the following actions are available to SXSW:

○ Artist will be removed from their official SXSW showcase and, at SXSW’s sole option, replaced.○ Any hotels booked via SXSW Housing will be canceled.○ Artist’s credentials will be canceled.○ SXSW will notify the appropriate U.S. immigration authorities of the above actions.

We hope never to be put in the position to act on this. Indeed, we spend a great deal of time communicating with international artists concerning numerous issues, including how to avoid issues at U.S. ports of entry.

Moreover, there is language in the Performance Agreement which is included to inform foreign artists that the U.S. immigration authorities have mechanisms to create trouble for artists who ignore U.S. immigration laws. For example, those acts coming to SXSW to perform without a work visa are limited, by U.S. immigration law, to performing their showcase event only. If an artist wishes to perform elsewhere, they will require a work visa.

As such, both to protect SXSW and the interests of all the participating artists, we long ago added this language to our Performance Agreement:

1.4. Foreign Artists entering the country through the Visa Waiver Program (VWP), B visa or any non-work visa may not perform at any public or unofficial shows, DAY OR NIGHT, in Austin from March 10-19, 2017. Accepting and performing at unofficial events (including unofficial events aside from SXSW Music dates during their visit to the United States) may result in immediate deportation, revoked passport and denied entry by US Customs Border Patrol at US ports of entry. For more information, please visit these pages:

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — A crack in the city’s campaign finance law might allow an Upper Manhattan City Council candidate to run an inflammatory campaign with taxpayer dollars.

As CBS2 Political Reporter Marcia Kramer reported, anti-Semitism has drawn shocking headlines in the city in recent months – with swastikas spotted carved into the wooden doors of a church on Central Park West just Wednesday, swastika graffiti on city subways last month, and a wave of bomb threats at Jewish community centers in the area.

Now, City Council candidate Thomas Lopez-Pierre is creating a new anti-Semitic furor. As part of his campaign, he wants to use taxpayer dollars to help spread anti-Semitism against incumbent City Councilman Mark Levine (D-7th)

About a week ago, Lopez-Pierre sent out a tweet saying he planned to use $100,000 in public matching funds to inform voters that his campaign is about “protecting tenants from greedy Jewish landlords.”

City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito was simply outraged.

“Taxpayer dollars are your dollars; my dollars. I’m not a bigot. I’m not a racist. I’m not an anti-Semite. So to have someone be able to spend my money to put forth that kind of a message is despicable,” Mark-Viverito said.

Lopez-Pierre has been at it for months. Last August, Mark-Viverito and city Comptroller Scott Stringer were among those demanding an end to “the many anti-Semitic, misogynistic, and homophobic statements you have made.”

Officials said the frustration is that if Lopez-Pierre raises at least $5,000 from 75 people in the district, he will get $6 in public matching funds for every dollar he collects. He can spend the money any way he wants.

Susan Lerner of the good government group Common Cause said Lopez-Pierre can only be stopped one way – people have to refuse to donate.

“The voters in New York City can use their power, and advantages of the public matching funds system, to support candidates who are not running on an anti-Semitic bias, divisive, unacceptable platform,” Lerner said.

Baruch College professor Doug Muzzio said it is a First Amendment freedom of speech issue.

“He is playing with fire, and he is throwing gasoline on the fire, but he’s not doing anything illegal,” Muzzio said.

The big question is whether the rules of the game need to be changed. Mark-Viverito said maybe there should be a “conversation” about it.

But Muzzio said no, arguing that freedom of speech needs to be protected even if it is offensive.

So far, Lopez-Pierre has raised $8,600. If every contribution counts, he could collect over $50,000, but is far, he can still raise more money for another six months and he could get more matching funds.

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Attorney General Jeff Sessions, facing sharp criticism over his failure to disclose two meetings he had with the Russian ambassador during last year’s election campaign, said today that he would recuse himself from any investigation into Russian contacts with the Trump campaign. “I should not be involved in investigating a campaign I had a role in,” Sessions said at a hastily called press conference at the Justice Department. The embattled attorney general said he had already been planning to take that step, after consulting with top Justice Department ethics advisers, even before the Washington Post reported Wednesday night that he had failed to tell the Senate Judiciary Committee about the two meetings he had last year with Sergey Kislyak, Russia’s ambassador to the United States. Sessions, in response to a question during his confirmation hearing about reports of “a continuing exchange of information” between Russian officials and the Trump campaign, volunteered that he “did not have communications with the Russians.” Sessions, who was a senator at the time, was also a key adviser to Donald Trump during the campaign.